Axis & Allies

For other uses, see Axis & Allies (disambiguation).

Axis & Allies

Players	2-5
Setup time	5-15 minutes
Playing time	2-10 hours
Chance	Medium
Age range	12+
Skills	Tactics, Strategy, Economics, and Teamwork

Axis & Allies is a popular series of World War II strategy board games, with nearly two million copies printed. The first game was originally designed by Larry Harris and published by Nova Game Designs, before being republished and popularized by the Milton Bradley Company. Milton Bradley released Axis & Allies as part of their Gamemaster series in 1984, and it was the most successful of the five. In 1999, a spinoff game, Axis and Allies:Europe, was released, focusing on the Western and Eastern Fronts. The next year, another spinoff, Axis and Allies:Pacific, was released, focusing on the Pacific and Asian theaters. In April 2004, Hasbro released the Revised Edition under the Avalon Hill name. In all of the editions of the core game, up to five players can take control of one of the Axis (Germany or Japan) or Allied (the U.K., the U.S.S.R., or the U.S.A.) nations. In 2008, an Axis & Allies: 50th Anniversary Edition was released to celebrate the 50th year of Avalon Hill. This latest installment is the largest core Axis & Allies game to date as well as the first to include Italy as a third Axis power. The object of both the core and spinoff games is to win the war by capturing enough critical territories.

Axis & Allies is not a strict historical wargame, due to its streamlining for ease of play and balancing so that both sides have a chance. For instance, the economic model is simplistic, with each territory producing a number of "IPCs" (Industrial Production Certificates) good toward the purchase of any unit. Moreover, the game is supposed to start in the spring of 1942, but Japan is immediately in position to attack Hawaii again, while Germany is pressed well into the U.S.S.R. with an initially superior force. If the game were truer to history, the Axis empires would be at their apex at this time, about to be pushed back home.

In 1996, Axis & Allies was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame.

Milton-Bradley version

File:Axis & Allies Map & Pieces.jpg

The Milton Bradley edition of Axis & Allies, showing the game map and all 299 playing pieces.

Basics

Axis and Allies is similar to the game Risk, however, it is more complex. The Axis powers and the Allies must attack each other's territories, with the goal of capturing two enemy capitals. Each turn progresses with the Soviet Union, going first, followed by Germany, the U.K., Japan, and the U.S. On each turn, the player declares IPC spending towards the production of the infantry, armored, naval, and air force units they will use in combat. A risky research option is also offered, which essentially allows players to invest (or gamble) IPCs towards upgrading certain units, like super-submarines and long-range aircraft. The player then declares combat moves (using area movement), attacking enemy-held territory, which is resolved by comparing the units' strengths against their opponents and rolling dice to determine the winners. A unit scores a hit if the player rolls, with a six-sided die, a number less than or equal to the unit's attack or defense score, and different units attack and defend at different strengths and weaknesses (e.g., infantry makes a better defender than attacker). Each player gets to choose how to distribute casualties amongst his or her own units and removes them from the battlefield. (This provision makes it practical to bring cheap cannon fodder units along to soak up hits.) The battle continues until either force is destroyed or the attacker withdraws.

After all battles are concluded, the player takes non-combat actions: moving reinforcements, landing aircraft, etc. Then he deploys units purchased at the beginning of the turn in territories with an industrial complex and finally collects income from all occupied territories to end the turn.

This cycle continues until, after U.S.'s turn, the victory conditions are met for one side to declare victory.

The 1986 2nd Edition rules are available for download from Avalon Hill.

Revised edition

To revise the original game, Mike Selinker led a design team that worked with Larry Harris, designer of the first edition. The revision aimed to address some major concerns with the original and make the game more fun. Selinker also wrote a series of articles describing the changes. This revised version (aka the 4th edition- the 3rd edition being the "Iron Blitz" computer version) was released in 2004.

The overarching change is in the victory condition. To win in the original, either side could seize two enemy capitals, but the Axis could also win an economic victory by capturing enough resources. This rule gave the poorer Axis a leg up, but led to anticlimactic endings. Also, it often took many, many turns to finally capture heavily fortified capital territories. The designers scrapped this rule and implemented victory cities, where each side starts with 6 of the 12 cities. In addition to the national capitals, these include Paris, Rome, and Leningrad in Europe, Calcutta, Shanghai, and Manila in Asia, and Los Angeles in North America. With this rule, players can decide what constitutes victory at the start – playing only to 8 victory cities makes for a shorter game, while more skilled players can play until one side controls all of them.

Another important change concerns unit capabilities and statistics. In the original, infantry were a cheap unit and turned out to be most useful as cannon fodder, by taking hits that would otherwise destroy more valuable units. This tended to lead to massive buildups by players amassing stacks of infantry in neighboring territories, unable to do anything other than buy more infantry, which can be ineffective attacking units by themselves due to their minimal attack value. While infantry were left unchanged in the revised edition, the tank unit defense was increased to encourage players to use combined arms rather than just rely on infantry, and to balance the value and effectiveness of comparable groups of infantry and tanks. Other changes include the addition of artillery units, which increase the attack of accompanying infantry, destroyers, which negate the first-shot advantage of submarines, and a significant increase in the usefulness and effectiveness of transports and amphibious assaults, by allowing transports to carry any one land unit plus one additional infantry unit.

The map was also reworked, with a new art style and many gameplay changes. One important change is the fragmentation of Germany's Eastern Front. The area from Berlin to Moscow now includes many small territories, a victory city (Leningrad), and a strategic industrial complex at the Caucasus. This change was designed to encourage more dynamic play in an area that often bogs down into heavy fortification. Another notable change is to the South Pacific region, which now provides much of Japan's starting income and is a much more valuable target for Allied incursion.

A new system of optional rules was implemented. Each power has six possible advantages, representing tactics or technologies used in the war. For instance, if the U.K. has the "Enigma Decoded" advantage, it may quickly move units during Germany's turn in response to an attack on U.K. territory. Also, after battle on home soil where three enemy armor pieces are destroyed, the Russians may place one free armor piece in that territory. A number of these advantages can be chosen or randomly picked for each side at the beginning of each game to alter gameplay.

In the original game, each country's infantry pieces were uniquely shaped. In the revised game, this uniqueness was expanded to include almost all of the units. American fighters and tanks are P-38s and Shermans, Russian tanks are T-34s, Japanese fighters are Zeros, etc. Russia and the U.K. share sculpts with the US for artillery, transports and destroyers. The U.K. uses US sherman tank sculpts, and Russia uses both the British battleship and carrier sculpts.

Many other changes are documented in the manual, available for download from Avalon Hill.

Spinoffs

Board games

When Hasbro acquired the Milton Bradley Company, they kept Axis & Allies in print as part of their Avalon Hill lineup, a game company they bought in 1998. Under the same brand, they published two follow-up games, Axis & Allies: Europe (1999) and Axis & Allies: Pacific (2001), that were designed by Larry Harris, the original designer of Axis & Allies. The latter especially tinkers with the original game mechanics and tries to make the game feel less scripted while keeping the appeal of the original.

Larry Harris also designed Axis & Allies: D-Day (released June 2004). Based on the Allied liberation of France, the game plays at a tactical level (rather than a strategic one like its predecessors), getting rid of most resource management and using a smaller-scale world. D-Day won a 2005 Origins Award for Best Historical Board Game. Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge was published in November 2006. Like D-Day, it is a standalone, 2-player version of the game focusing on a smaller conflict. Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge is notable because it features the biggest departures from the original game, including a hex map, supply rules, and a different combat system.

In 2005, Avalon Hill released a line of miniatures under the Axis & Allies brand.

Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal was released in 2007.

Axis & Allies: 50th Anniversary Edition

Basics

To celebrate the 50-year anniversary of Avalon Hill, Axis & Allies launched its most expansive game ever. The Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition features over 600 pieces as well as the largest Axis & Allies board to-date, measuring 24x46 inches. Some of the gameplay changes include initial set-up instructions for either Spring of 1941 or 1942, the addition of six new technologies, the debut of Italy as the third Axis nation, a new rule set for a more autonomous China (though still controlled by the US player), the introduction of the cruiser unit to the naval lineup, cheaper and weaker naval units to accommodate the cruiser, and new rules for strategic bombardment of industrial complexes. The Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition is designed and developed by Larry Harris, the original designer of Axis & Allies, and was released on November 18th, 2008.

Units

Unit Comparison: The Three Editions
UNIT NAME	GAME EDITION	IPC COST		ATK	DEF	MOV		NOTES
Infantry	Original	3		1*	2	1
	Revised							*Infantry attack increases to 2 when combined with Artillery.
	50th Anniv.
Artillery	Original	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
	Revised	4		2	2	1
	50th Anniv.
Armor	Original	5		3	2	2
	Revised	5		3	3	2		Renamed "Tank"
	50th Anniv.
Fighter	Original	12		3	4	4
	Revised	10		3	4	4
	50th Anniv.
Bomber	Original	15		4	1	6		May make a bombing run against opponent's IPCs.
	Revised
	50th Anniv.	12		4	1	6		May make a bombing run against opponent's industrial complexes.
Submarine	Original	8		2	2	2		Gets to bypass some combat rules, for "free shots"
	Revised							Has first strike capability, and can submerge instead of withdraw
	50th Anniv.	6		2	1	2		Subs can move past hostile ships undetected, but can no longer force a moving fleet to stop. First strike and submerge still available.
Transport	Original	8		0	1	2		Can carry up to 2 infantry, or one of any other land unit.
	Revised							Can carry any one land unit, plus one infantry.
	50th Anniv.	7		0	0	2		Uses Revised Edition cargo rules. No longer has combat value, and chosen as a casualty only if there are no other eligible units.
Destroyer	Original	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
	Revised	12		3	3	2		Negates submarine first strike and submerge abilities
	50th Anniv.	8		2	2	2		Negates submarine first strike, submerge, and undetected movement ability
Cruiser	Original	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
	Revised
	50th Anniv.	12		3	3	2		Can conduct shore bombardment in amphibious invasions
Battleship	Original	24		4	4	2
	Revised							Requires two hits to destroy. Can conduct shore bombardment in amphibious invasions
	50th Anniv.	20		4	4	2
Aircraft Carrier	Original	18		1	3	2		May carry two fighters.
	Revised	16		1	3	2
	50th Anniv.	14		1	2	2
Anti-aircraft gun	Original	5		0	0	1		Gets one shot per attacking aircraft.
	Revised
	50th Anniv.	6
Industrial Complex	Original	15		0	0	0		Initial complexes have unlimited production.
	Revised							All complexes' maximum production limited to the territory value.
	50th Anniv.							Can be damaged by strategic bombing, reducing the complex's maximum production.

Computer Versions

Several computer games are also based on Axis & Allies. They are mainly turn-based strategy games closely based on the board game, but more recently in 2004, a real-time strategy game was created based on the board game, similarly called Axis & Allies. The real-time strategy game includes a turn-based mode that is closely related to the board game, but you can only attack one enemy-occupied territory per turn. The player can either fight battles in RTS mode or have the computer calculate the outcome. There is also a campaign mode in which you can fight historical battles playing as the Allies, or try to change history by playing as the Axis. All of the battles in the campaign mode are fought in the RTS mode.

An online version of the 2004 revised edition was recently released on GameTable Online. Originally created for Wizards of the Coast's website, the game found its new home when Wizards of the Coast changed their online strategy. The game includes live play against both human and AI opponents (or a mix of the two). It is now also available to play on Facebook.

An open source version of the game called TripleA also exists in which one can play alone or online against other players. It has multiple versions of A&A, including 2nd Edition and the Revised Edition.

See also

• Axis and Allies Miniatures
• Axis & Allies (1998 video game) - This was true to the board game and is very rare and sought after (particularly Iron Blitz). The 1998 release has several bugs that the Axis and Allies World Club has fixed in an unofficial patch.

• Axis & Allies (2004 video game), a real-time strategy variant of the board game

External links

Official sites

• Avalon Hill's official Axis & Allies site
• Avalon Hill's official Axis & Allies English rulebook
• Axis & Allies rules errata and FAQ
• Larry Harris Game Design - Creator of Axis & Allies
• Official Axis & Allies online game

Communities and strategy sites

• International Axis and Allies Players Association - An international Axis and Allies association dedicated to the highest quality of play. Support for both 2nd Edition and Revised A&A with online dice servers, tournaments, lifetime ratings and annual face to face conventions held throughout the world.
• Axis and Allies Members Club - 'One of the largest and best International Axis & Allies Clubs in the World'

with Free Membership, an Automatic Dice Server, Team Games, Tournaments, Individual Games, Competition, and Rankings

• 1984 edition and 2004 edition at BoardGameGeek
• Axis & Allies.org - News, strategies, forums, and more since 1997; other languages: Template:It icon
• SmoreySwamp Site for premier, vendor-sponsored, face-to-face tournaments
• Axis & Allies discussion and strategies
• Axis & Allies Variant games
• Axis & Allies Miniatures Yahoo! Group
• Generals of Waterloo - Tribute site with history, strategy, tactics, alternate rules, and expansions
• Axis & Allies World Club - Club for Axis & Allies online using a custom patch of the 1998 CD
• Template:De icon Deutscher Axis & Allies Klub - German Axis & Allies club
• Template:It icon GiocoLab - Strategies, variants, faq, and more
• Template:It icon Axis&Allies Italia Forum - Italian community

Utilities

• TripleA - Open source Axis & Allies game for online and PBEM play
• TripleA ScreenSaver - Screen saver and map viewer for TripleA
• AACalc - Web-based combat simulator/calculator for Axis & Allies Revised Edition
• Philip Hall's odds calculator - Windows utility for Milton-Bradley edition
• David Skelly's AA simulator/calculator - Javascript calculator

Variants

• Superpowers - Modern day version, expanded rules and new pieces.
• Global Crisis - Completely new rulebook for greater historical accuracy and realism
• Honor and Infamy: Commanders - Axis & Allies add-on game
• Plotted A&A - Variant in which players plot each turn's activities in advance
• Enhanced Realism Rules - Variant rules which strive to bring greater realism to gameplay
• W.W.II - Free browser-based, play-by-email, Axis & Allies game at GamesByEmail.com. 100% AJAX, no flash or installs required.
• The WarZone - Free service with no adware or spyware that allows players with the CD-rom to play Axis & Allies, 3rd edition online
• Xeno Games World At War - unauthorized expansion kit introducing Paratroops, Armored Infantry, Strategic Rail Movement and more.